


Thankful Things

by Lumelle



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Adoption, Children, Dinner, Divorce, Family, Future Fic, Multi, Pregnancy, Thanksgiving, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-22
Updated: 2012-11-22
Packaged: 2017-11-19 07:39:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/570819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Thanksgiving, and the whole extended family is gathering at the Eppes house. With old friends and new additions, they have a lot to be thankful for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thankful Things

"Alan? Could you get me the big glass dish from the top shelf?"

"Oh, sure." Alan reached up to take the large glass dish, showing it to her. "Is this the one you wanted?"

"Perfect, thank you." Amita smiled. "That'll be great for the turkey."

"What's wrong with the one on the lower shelf?" Charlie asked, looking over from where he had been busy folding napkins. Trust him to pick the one chore where he could make things into a formula. He was taking awfully long with his task, but Amita supposed it was still better than not having him help at all. "We've used that before, haven't we?"

"Well, yeah, but that one's not clean, for Don at least." Amita took the dish from Alan and settled it on the counter to wait for the turkey. "I've kept this one aside specifically for having him visit."

"I've got to say, you're quite the hostess," Alan chuckled. "Anything else I can do?"

"Get out of the way?" She smiled at him. "The table still needs to be set. Charlie can help you with that once he's done with his folds."

"You asked me to make them presentable!" she heard her husband's protest.

"Presentable, not world-class art, Charlie. They're going to end up dirty and rumpled before the night is over anyway."

"All the more reason to make them look nice now, I'd think."

"And that's my cue to get out of the kitchen," Alan chuckled, opening the cutlery drawer. "I'll get started on setting everything up. How many are we expecting?"

"Well, there's Don, David, and Colby, plus Larry of course. Liz is busy with work, and Nikki is visiting family," Amita counted. "Now, if everyone shows up, that means four besides the three of us."

"I'll have you know that they will show up if they know what's good for them." Alan brandished a fork in a threatening manner, though he was smiling as well. "So, seven in total?"

"Oh, wait, Larry called a little while ago," Charlie remembered. "Apparently he's bringing someone over." And this was when he chose to inform them?

"Really?" Amita raised her eyebrows. "Any word on who it would be?"

"Not really, though he did say it's someone who's been in his thoughts a lot lately." Charlie grinned. "I'm really curious to see this mystery person."

"Me too. He's never been this secretive about his love life before."

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Alan pointed out. "Is it really a secret if he's bringing this person over for dinner?"

"In any case, we won't have to wait for long. Larry said they just setting out when he called, so they should be here shortly."

"Meaning our curiosity shall be satisfied soon." Alan gave a solemn nod. "I'll set nine places, then. That's a pretty full table."

"Oh, I don't think that's a bad thing at all." Amita smiled. "I cleaned the things for Don's seat earlier, they're on the side counter."

"Good to see that at least someone in this household is somewhat organised."

"Very funny, dad." Charlie shook his head, focusing even more fiercely on his napkins.

Amused though she was at the two, Amita didn't have the time to be bored even as they fell silent. Almost as soon as Alan had disappeared from the kitchen, she heard the doorbell. Charlie either hadn't noticed this or had subsequently decided that the perfection of his napkins was more important than acquiring immediate information about Larry's new object of interest, so she decided to hurry over to the door herself. Sure, Alan was probably there already, but she was the hostess, after all.

"Ah, Larry." Indeed, Alan had already gotten to the door, opening it to reveal their favourite physicist. "What's this Charlie said about you bringing someone over?"

"Yes, well, I apologise for the rather short warning, but I've been debating about how to reveal this for a little while now." Larry ran a hand over his head, looking like he was trying to find words. "You see, there is someone I absolutely had to bring with me, but it's not exactly --"

"Oh, Larry, you're thinking too much." Amita had barely time to realise that the voice was familiar as she already saw a very recognisable face peeking out from behind Larry. "Hello, Alan, Amita. I'm sorry I didn't warn you beforehand, but Larry seemed to want to tell you himself, and in the end didn't end up doing so. Not that I mind a little surprise, of course."

"Megan?" Amita's eyes widened before she rushed closer. "What are you doing here? Oh, not to say you aren't very welcome!"

Megan chuckled as both she and Larry made their way inside. "Oh, I didn't think that for a moment," she reassured her. "It just so happens that I recently found myself gravitating back to the west coast. I've been keeping in touch with Larry so he knew, but we couldn't quite agree on how to let the rest of you know."

"Well, that sure explains why Larry's been even more off planet recently," Alan chuckled. "In the non-literal sense, that is."

"I suppose I should apologise for my recent absent-mindedness, but I hope that under these circumstances, you can forgive me." Larry clasped his hands together for a moment. "Where is Charles? I suppose I at least owe it to him to tell him in person."

"He's in the kitchen, folding napkins." Amita shook her head. "I would have never thought he'd make them into such a serious issue."

"Napkins?" Larry blinked. "Oh, I bet the boy is using the absolutely wrong ratio! Do excuse me, I have to go to avoid an aesthetic disaster!"

"It's good to see that things haven't really changed while I was away." Megan smiled as she watched Larry hurrying over to the kitchen, before turning her gaze to Amita. "Well, except for some things, it seems."

"Yes, I suppose there have been some changes." Amita chuckled, settling a hand on her belly. "And more are to come, as it happens."

"We've set up the nursery all ready," Alan added, pride clear in his voice. "Charlie helped me paint it, if you'll believe that. I can show you later if you want to see."

"Oh, I'd love to see that." Now Megan finally stepped close enough to hug Amita, then for good measure gave Alan a hug too. "It looks like I came back at a very exciting time."

"Made all the more exciting by your return." Amita smiled.

"Well, we'll see." Megan chuckled before glancing behind. "Oh, I have to get the dessert ingredients from the car. Just give me a moment."

"I'll help you with those," Alan offered.

"Anything to get away from setting the table, hmm?" Amita grinned. "Fine, I suppose I'll get working on that myself, then."

"Oh, don't bother. We'll just rope David and Colby into doing that." Alan gave her a grin before heading outside with Megan.

Returning to the kitchen, Amita found Charlie and Larry bickering over the most pleasing way to fold a napkin. Shaking her head, she decided not to even ask if Larry had managed to inform Charlie about his surprise guest. She'd probably better get to setting the table, whatever Alan said.

Megan and Alan returned from the car as she was setting the cutlery at each seat. "Larry decided he'll make his science ice cream again," Megan revealed. "I should get him to work on that once he and Charlie are done arguing." Of course she would know that the two were arguing; it wasn't like Amita herself had been very surprised to find them in the middle of a napkin feud. "Sorry if that's not exactly traditional."

"Megan, I'm an Indian woman busy preparing a kosher Thanksgiving dinner for my family. Do I look like I'm that bothered about following the rules of tradition to the letter?"

"You keep kosher?" Megan looked somewhat surprised.

"We don't, but Don does. He usually tells us not to bother with it when he's over, but I figured that for this, we could go to a little extra effort."

"Really?" Megan blinked. "He certainly didn't before I left."

"Yeah, well, it's a pretty recent development. He started during the divorce. Said it kept his mind occupied." It was a pity, what had happened with Don and Robin, but then she couldn't really say she had been surprised. Don's love life had never been what one might have called a success story.

"He still eats bacon, though," Alan added with a chuckle. "Definitely my boy, that one. But then, he says it's not exactly religious per se."

"Well, sounds pretty religious to me for a Jew to keep kosher."

"His logic is that it makes him think about it every day," Amita explained. "It's not that he thinks following some arbitrary rules is what makes him a good or bad believer, but having to keep those rules in mind means that he thinks every day about what he believes and why."

"Sounds like a good strategy to me." Megan smiled. "Now, let me get these to the fridge and I'll help you."

"Nah, I meant it when I said David and Colby can do that," Alan said, then, as Amita gave him a sharp glance, "Well, and me, of course."

"They're already bringing the salad, though. It's not really fair to make them do more work."

"You're cooking the dinner, though." Megan shook her head. "Though now I wonder whether a salad made by David and Colby is actually edible."

"Oh, they're not that bad." Amita chuckled. "They actually have had us over for dinner a couple of times since David came back and they moved together. Turns out that when they're working together, they're surprisingly good cooks."

"Well, when Don doesn't distract them in the middle of cooking." Alan snorted. "None of the boys really think twice about rushing things."

"Do I hear someone speaking badly of us?" Colby peeked from the door. "Sorry to barge in, but the door was open, and --" He blinked, then stared. "Megan?"

"Colby!" Megan looked delighted. "Goodness, you haven't changed one bit!"

"Yeah, well, I'm kind of past the growing age." Colby walked in now, indeed carrying a big salad bowl and followed closely by David. "See, David? Our best girl's back!"

"I'd pay to see you say that in front of Liz." David grinned, closing the door behind himself. "Well, that or Nikki."

"I have to say I'm pretty amused to hear that Don's getting overrun by the ladies now." Megan grinned. "I think we should all get the foodstuffs into the kitchen and then spend a moment catching up."

"Well, it's not like we can start until Don appears anyway, right?" Colby walked to the kitchen door. "We can all set the table while we talk."

Alan chuckled. "See, Amita? I wasn't being unreasonable at all."

"I never said you were unreasonable," Amita chuckled. "Just that we could have well set the table before everyone arrived."

"No, we couldn't have." Alan took on an incredibly serious expression. "I was busy setting the table when Larry and Megan arrived, and they'd barely gotten in when the guys showed up. There was absolutely no time to take care of that."

"Oh, you know we're happy to help, Amita," David chuckled. "Can't have you running around too much now or the baby'll get nervous."

"I'm not that heavily pregnant, thanks." She set a hand over her stomach again. Okay, so her due date was right behind the corner, but that didn't mean she was an invalid.

"Oh, yes you are." Megan patted her shoulder. "You sit down for a moment and play overseer, I'll get the boys to work together."

"If you can Larry and Charlie to stop arguing about the optimal angles of napkins, I'll let you organise the workforce however you wish." Of course Charlie was absolutely adorable whenever he got truly geeky, and it wasn't like she didn't appreciate the beauty of mathematics herself, but when it made him take ages to complete what was supposed to be a simple chore, sometimes even her patience failed.

Thankfully the influence of Megan was apparently greater than that of mathematics, because soon enough all the napkins were not only folded but settled on perfectly set places around the table. Alan had deemed the turkey almost adequate, Larry had prepared his ice cream to the point where he could get it to serving condition in just a minute as the time came, and as such they were simply sitting around, chatting as they waited for Don to show up. Megan and David seemed to be busy discussing his new team, Charlie was now interrogating Larry about the manner in which he had kept Megan's impending return a secret, and Alan and Colby were discussing the latest sports results. It was, Amita decided, a very cozy atmosphere to be sitting in, rubbing her stomach as the baby decided to give her a hearty kick to remind her of its presence. As though she could have forgotten.

Don did not bother with the doorbell, he never had. Instead they heard the key at the door and the next moment the door was opened. "Ah, sorry about being a bit late," Don said. "I had to pick up something on the way here."

"Oh? And what's so important you made everyone else wait?" Alan asked sharply, only for his eyes to widen as he heard a sweet little voice.

"Grandpa!"

"Nothing important, I assure you," Don chuckled, taking off his son's coat before allowing him to run over to his grandfather. "Just your eldest grandchild, that's all."

"You got Adi?" Amita asked. "I thought you said Robin was going to have him for the weekend!"

"Yeah, well, that was the plan." Don shrugged, getting his own coat off. "Then I reminded her that she gets Christmas more or less by default, so it's only fair that I get him for Thanksgiving."

"I suppose that means one more seat at the table." Charlie got up with an exaggerated sigh, though he certainly didn't look too upset about this. "Oh, and that's your seat there. Amita made sure everything's nice and kosher just for you."

"Aw, Amita, you know you didn't have to!" Don shook his head. "It's just my little quirk, not something you should worry about."

"Oh, it's not like it was that much extra work," Amita assured him. "I figured that for Thanksgiving, we could just as well go the extra mile."

"Well, thank you for that." He walked over to give her a quick hug. "Even though I know you're only doing this to score some babysitting points with me."

"You're a very lucky man that I know you're just teasing," Amita chuckled.

"Hey, you're my sister-in-law. It comes with the territory." Don grinned. "Just like spoiling rights for the niece or nephew, assuming you're going to let us know which one I have eventually."

"You'll find out when he or she is born, just like everyone else." Oh, of course she and Charlie knew it, but after about a month of guesses and comments from assorted family and friends about how the shape of her belly meant this and the look of her hair meant that, she had declared a total discussion ban on the gender of the child. If they were so intent on predicting things, they would just be happy not to hear anything actually scientific beforehand, wouldn't they?

"Fair enough, I suppose."

"Say, is it just me," Colby cut in, "or has Don hardly even noticed our surprise guest here?"

"Oh, Megan?" Don chuckled. "Maybe I'm just not that surprised."

"Well, I certainly did not let you know." Larry shook his head. "Care to tell us how you are so well informed, Don?"

"I'm sure it'll come out sooner or later." Don gave Megan a grin, receiving an enigmatic smile in return. "So. I'm told I made everyone wait for me, so I suppose that means we're about ready to get to the dinner? At least I'm hoping there's going to be dinner, because while I think I brought enough wine for everyone, it's not going to amount to much of a meal."

"Right." Alan finally stopped fussing over Adi, releasing him to run off to the next adult. "I'll get the turkey right away."

After a couple of more teasing comments everyone settled down more or less peacefully, even Adi taking his seat next to Don with the solemn gravity of a toddler trying to act important. With the rest of the table already set, everything was ready as Alan emerged from the kitchen with the turkey, setting it in the middle of the table before taking his seat.

"So." Alan glanced at everyone, seated at the head of the table like a most benevolent patriarch. "I suppose it's best not to try to mix anything religious into this or things would just get strange, but that doesn't mean we can't all be thankful for something. So, I'm thankful that we have so much family and friends around the table with us tonight." He gave a nod at Megan, then smiled at Adi. "Especially the surprise guests. There are never too many loved ones to enjoy a good dinner with."

"I'd like to add that I'm thankful to have one of the most important people in my life back." Larry gave Megan a fond gaze. "Though I'll admit that now I'm not very keen on letting go again."

"Oh, you won't have to." Megan gave him an equally loving smile in return. "Because I'm thankful to be back with my true family."

"I'm thankful that I'll be taking a leave of absence soon." Colby grinned.

This seemed to be a surprise to most people, certainly to Amita, who stared at Colby. They had heard nothing to the effect, not even when she'd last visited the FBI just a couple of weeks earlier.

"You? Taking a leave?" Charlie blinked. "What, is the world coming to an end?"

"Hey, that's not fair," David chuckled. "He's had plenty of fishing trips before. Though I've got to say, this will be a bit longer than just a weekend of playing with hooks." He grasped Colby's hand, exchanging meaningful gazes.

"So I've been given to understand." Don chuckled. "The papers finally reached my table, though I'm glad you gave me some advance warning. So something should happen soon, hmm?"

"Am I the only one feeling a bit left out here?" Charlie seemed almost offended that he was clearly not in the know about something.

"Oh, no. I have the same distinct feeling myself." Larry looked at each of the three FBI agents in turn. "So, are the rest of us going to be informed at all, or are you just planning to be mysterious forever?"

"Well," David chuckled, "Amita's not the only one due to have a baby soon."

"David's little sister has found herself in something of a pinch," Colby added. "We agreed to take the kid off her hands once it's born. She'll sign off the parental rights to David, and I'll take a leave to look after the kid for some time."

"So, what?" Amita blinked. "You're going to be a stay-at-home dad?" On one hand, it was very easy for her to see David and Colby with a child, she was sure they were going to be amazing fathers, but on the other hand the thought of Colby actually stepping back from the action seemed… unlikely.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find some form of consulting work to allow him a glimpse back every now and then," Don chuckled. "Besides, one of my reasons to be thankful is that I've already got a replacement all lined up. Got a very convincing application just recently, it'd be hard to turn it down."

Realisation dawned on Charlie's face. "So that's why you weren't surprised about Megan!"

"Indeed." Megan chuckled. "I'm here to stay. And I think I'll just go ahead and take that to mean I get to join your team again, hmm?"

"Couldn't be happier to have you back." Don grinned. "Though I should probably be worried that I'm now going to have an essentially all-female team until Colby's eventual return."

"Oh, I think we are all aware that said female agents are all more than capable." Larry sneaked a smile at Megan before turning to David and Colby. "I suppose that given these circumstances it is prudent to offer you my congratulations."

"Thanks." David grinned. "I've got to say, I wish I could be a fly on the wall when Nikki hears about this."

"Oh, god." Colby groaned. "She's going to have a field day with that."

"Well, at least you're not going to be there to hear too much of it." Alan chuckled. "Congratulations, boys. I suppose you'll be coming over for play dates soon."

"First we'll have to get two babies out and old enough to actually play," Amita pointed out. "And it certainly seems my little genius is in no hurry."

"I've got it on good authority that to date, no child has stayed inside forever." Megan chuckled.

"Well, at this rate the poor thing is going to eat its way out soon," Charlie pointed out. "So, does anyone else have some more bombs to drop, or shall we get to the actual food?"

"I'm in favour of this idea." Don nodded. "Right, Adi?"

"I'm hungry!" Well, that decided that.

Of course, nobody could say no to Adi, and thus they finally got to the actual eating part of the dinner. The conversation turned to less serious matters, such as table manners, and the way the students at CalSci very mistakenly thought Amita would be softer on them just because she was pregnant, and wouldn't Colby look darling in a pink apron if anyone could make him wear one without getting their face punched in.

The baby kicked, as though to be part of the conversation, and Amita found herself smiling.

So very much to be thankful for.


End file.
